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Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth
Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth is an original Uncharted novel that was released on October 4th, 2011. The novel was written by Christopher Golden. According to a spokesperson for publisher Del Ray, ''"It's a standalone adventure, intended to not impact the continuity of the game stories. It's not necessarily a prequel or a sequel." ''However, there is a brief mention of El Dorado that suggests Drake still believes it to be a city of gold, so the events could assumably take place before Uncharted: Drake's Fortune. Summary Nathan Drake has been called to New York City by Victor Sullivan. Sully's old friend, a world-famous archaeologist, has just been found murdered in Manhattan. Dodging assassins, Drake, Sully, and the dead man's daughter, Jada Hzujak, race from New York to underground excavations in Egypt and Greece. Their goal: to uncover the astonishing discovery that got Jada's father killed. It appears that a fourth labyrinth was built in another land and another culture - and within it lies a key to unmatched wealth and power. An army of terrifying lost warriors guards this underground maze. So does a monster.http://www.christophergolden.com/uncharted.html Plot synopsis Chapter 1 Nathan Drake drives a Jeep through the El Oriente rainforest in Ecuador, pursued by three vehicles containing the henchmen of South American drug lord Ramón Valdez. In the passenger seat is Alex Munoz, whom he rescued from Valdez's compound. She had been tied up in Valdez's bedroom, being used as a hostage as leverage against her father, the mayor of Guayaquil, who has taken a stand against drugs and corruption. As they flee, Drake assures Alex that he wasn't there to rescue her and explains his reasons: Nate was hired by Valdez to recover a golden staff that belonged to Ayar Manco from Pacariqtambo (a cave from which the first people emerged). After Nate retrieved it, Valdez decided to kill him instead of paying him. After escaping Valdez, Nate was approached by a local tribe called the Cuiqawa, who are Manco's closest descendants. They hire Nate to steal the staff back and return it to them. Agreeing, he had launched his raid on Valdez's compound. Now escaping with Alex in a Jeep they stole from the compound (with the staff in the back seat), they are chase by Valdez's men into a dead end. Trapped, Nate and Alex climb out of the Jeep with their hands up. They are forced to their knees, and as a henchman steps forward to execute Nate, he is shot dead. The Cuiqawa tribe emerge from the trees and attack. Outnumbered, Valdez's men retreat as the tribe takes the staff from the Jeep. Chapter 2 Having been rewarded greatly for returning Alex to her father, Drake returns to America, content with both getting his revenge on Valdez and returning the staff to its rightful heirs. After landing during a layover in Chicago, Victor Sullivan calls Drake, telling him to come to New York as soon as possible. As Drake asks him why, Sully grimly replies, "murder." Drake flies to New York and takes a taxicab to Grand Central Station, where he meets Sully. The two travel down to an underground platform, which has been cordoned off with police tape. Sully tells Drake that the previous night, a train arrived from Connecticut, and when it left there was an old steamer trunk on the platform. He explains that a conductor saw two men sitting near the trunk wearing black coats. Suspicious of the large case, the NYPD were called in. Inside, they found the decapitated body of Luka Hzujak, an archaeologist and one of Sully's oldest friends. Sully tells Drake that Luka's daughter, Jada, might be able to help. Chapter 3 As Drake and Sully head to Jada's apartment, Sully tells Drake that Jada's stepmother, Olivia, works for Phoenix Innovations, a weapons manufacturing company. The company's CEO, Tyr Henriksen, is an antiques collector, and no stranger to Drake and Sully's line of work. Three months previously, Henriksen contacted Luka through Olivia to get him involved in a "private project." Henriksen wanted Luka to "solve a mystery for him," with the promise of treasure at the heart of it. After beginning the research for Henriksen, Luka stumbled across something that worried him. He immediately quit, although he continued the research by himself, his reason being that the only way to stop Henriksen would be to find the treasure before he did. Following his murder, Jada has decided to finish her father's project. Drake and Sully arrive at Jada's aparment and she tells them that her father had been studying two things before his death; the first was alchemy, mainly King Midas, "the great alchemist." The second was labyrinths, although she has failed to draw a connection between the two. She shows Nate a book by Maynard P. Cheney, whom her father had been talking to over the previous few weeks. She tells Nate that Cheney is currently working on an exhibit for the Museum of Natural History entitled, "Labyrinths of the Ancient World", and they decide to pay him a visit. They arrive at the museum and are lead to Cheney by one of his graduate students. They pass through his exhibit on the way, which has been laid out as a maze. While walking through it, they hear a man screaming. Drake darts ahead, only to find Cheney lying in a pool of blood, having been stabbed. Chapter 4 As Dr. Cheney lies dying, Drake and Jada set off into the maze after his attacker. They soon realise, however, that the attacker has escaped, and they return to Cheney, who has since died. Sully asks the graduate student, Gretchen Welch, to tell them what she knows. Gretchen tells them that Cheney told Luka about a connection between the Labyrinth Tomb from Egypt's Twelfth Dynasty and the Labyrinth of Knossos, famed for its Minotaur. She explains that her borther, Ian Welch, is currently a manager on a museum funded archaeological dig in the City of Crocodiles in Egypt. Luka had visited the dig just weeks before. Cheney had been translating the writing on whatever artifacts that had been returned from the dig, on which he had found references three labyrinths, all designed by Daedalus. She goes on to say that whatever Luka was searching for would be in the center of the third labyrinth, the location of which had been worked out by Luka just days before. He had told Cheney the location, but no one else. Nate asks Gretchen to make arrangements with her brother in Egypt so thay can access the dig and find out who is behind the murders. She agrees, and stays behind as Nate, Sully and Jada leave before the police arrive. They decide the best plan of action is to search Luka's apartment, but when they arrive, they find that the building has been set on fire. They decide that their only option now is to directly confront Tyr Henriksen. As they get into a taxi to travel to Phoenix Innovations, they are shot at by a sniper. A black SUV pulls up beside them and the taxi driver is shot dead. Drake reverses the taxi towards the burning building towards the police cars that have been set up there. As the police close in on the SUV, Nate drives to Chelsea Piers to find a boat for them to escape in. Chapter 5 Drake, Sully, and Jada abaddon the taxi after escaping from the black SUV. After making enquiries by phone, Jada learns that Olivia is currently in Egypt on a "business trip," and has not informed her co-workers about Luka's murder. She gets the number of the hotel in which Luka stayed while he was in Egypt and the three head to the pier. They steal a boat and head to Boston, where Drake has fake IDs and passports made for them by a forger. From there, Drake, Sully, and Jada head to the Montreal-Mirabel International Airport, where both Drake and Sully have friends that get them on a cargo flight to Egypt. Chapter 6 The trio arrives in Cairo International Airport, where Sully introduces them to a contact named Chigaru, who takes them to the Auberg du Lac hotel, near the city of Fayoum. After Chigaru leaves, the trio checks into the hotel; Drake and Sully use aliases, while Jada uses her real name. Nate and Sully take a separate room, room 137, while Jada takes room 213, the same room her father had stayed in weeks earlier. Chapter 7 They arrive at room 213, which had already been ransacked and searched before they arrived. Jada recalls a phone conversation that she had with her father while he was in the hotel, during which he complained about the noise of the room's ceiling fan. She believes this to be a clue and, after searching the fan blades, she finds a note taped to the top of one of them, which reads, "Room 271." Bribing the front-desk clerk, they get the key to room 271 and search it. They find a bundle of documents and a journal inside the air conditioning unit. They unfold a page: a map of Crocodilopolis (City of Crocodiles), on which Luka had marked the location of the Labyrinth of Sobek. In the journal, they find several of Luka's notes on labyrinths, all designed by Daedalus; the first labyrinth at Knossos, and the second at Crocodilopolis. The location of the third remains a mystery. The notes make multiple references to a "Honey Chamber," a single location in the labyrinth with multiple paths leading to it. The final notes in the journal read "Talk to Welch," (Ian Welch, Gretchen's brother), and, "Henriksen doesn't care about the Three Labyrinths, he's after the treasure of the Fourth." They arrange to meet Ian in Fayoum City that evening. Chapter 8 Nate, Sully, and Jada meet Ian in a restaurant, where they discuss Luka's work. They question him about labyrinths, and he explains his belief that Daedalus was in fact real, and the designer of the labyrinths. He also tells them that he believes that the structure uncovered at Knossos is not the labyrinth, which he thinks is hidden somewhere nearby. He proves his claim by pointing out that the Labyrinth of Sobek was not uncovered at the tomb of Sobek, but a short distance away from it. He also says that the have found strong evidence of a third labyrinth, also designed by Daedalus. They ask about Luka's notes on the "Honey Chamber," and the "Mistress of the Labyrinth." He explains that at Knossos, offerings of honey were brought for the gods, but an equal amount was also brought to the labyrinth; an offering for its "mistress." The same was also true for both the second and third labyrinths. Writings found in the excavation also told of monsters; three guardians, one for each labyrinth. Ian shares with them his theory that the "honey" in question is actually gold, and that King Minos of Greece and King Midas were the same person. Translations of tablets found in the archaeological dig revealed that Daedalus, not Midas, possessed the ability to turn stone into gold, and that he kept his stockpile of gold in the center of the labyrinth, where he also lived. After its completion, the labyrinth was overrun by its builders, who found no trace of Daedalus or his gold. After this, Ian leaves them to finish their meals. As they eat, Olivia enters the restaurant. She expresses her grief over the death of her husband, and tries to dismiss their fears of her working with Henriksen. Jada leaves the restraunt, not wanting to see Olivia, and Drake follows her outside to the parking lot, where she is being attacked by a group of armed men Chapter 9 Taking cover behind a car, Drake engages Jada's attackers in a gunfight. Outnumbered and outgunned by the men, Sully comes to his aid. However, the gunmen attempting to kidnap Jada are killed by several hooded people. One of the hooded figures whispers something to Jada before they all disappear as quickly as they came. In the confusion, Olivia has vanished too. Drake gets their car and they flee before the police arrive. As they drive, Jada tells them what the hooded figure told her: "Go home." Chapter 10 The next day, Drake, Sully, and Jada travel to the archaeological excavation at the Labyrinth of Sobek. They meet Ian, who tells them that, as of the previous night, the dig had a new sole sponsor: Phoenix Innovations. He also tells him that Henriksen is on site with them. They see Henriksen, with Olivia by his side, being shown around by Hilary Russo, the expedition director. They decide that they must get to the labyrinth's secrets before Henriksen. As Russo leads Henriksen into the labyrinth by its front entrance, Ian leads them in through a side entrance. Ian leads them through the labyrinth to an octagonal chamber with three separate entrances and an octagonal altar in the center. Ian tells them about the room they're in: the "Worship chamber," the chamber of the Mistress of the Labyrinth. Translations from tablets have revealed that the Mistress of the Labyrinth, rather than accepting the offerings of "honey," would pass on the offerings to the protector of the labyrinth: a monster at the heart of the labyrinth. As he examines a semi-unearthed vase, Drake stumbles headfirst into a trap, a deep hole in the floor. He is caught by the belt as he falls, and, as he pulls himself out of the hole, he sees a painting of a minotaur on the wall of the shaft. Chapter 11 The secret passage Drake stumbled upon appears to have stairs leading down to a dark tunnel. Lying on the steps is a skeleton. Drake points out that the skeleton is much larger than the size of an average Egyptian at the time, and that the skull is misshapen. They speculate that this may have been the "minotaur", or the Mistress of the Labyrinth. Drake, Sully, Jada and Ian descend into the tunnel. Chapter 12 Exploring the tunnel, they find that it opens into three further antechambers, each one representing each labyrinth, and each one dedicated to a different god: Sobek, Dionysus and Poseidon. Ian establishes through ancient texts on vases that Daedalus built the third labyrinth on Thera (Santorini), long before most of the island disappeared in an enormous volcanic eruption. As Ian continues to read, he comes across a mention of "qe-ra-si-ja" (Therasia), a former settlement on Thera. They decide that this must be the location of the third labyrinth. Ian tells them that he is coming with them but the group is ambushed by a group of assassins (the same ones that killed Jada's attackers outside the restraunt) and Ian is taken by them through a second tunnel from the chamber. Drake, Sully and Jada flee in the opposite direction, saved only by the appearance of Hilary Russo and her group. Drake and Sully attempt to explain the situation to Russo, but she pushes past them into the chamber to examine it herself. After the trio exits the maze, they drive away, leaving the country and heading to Santorini. References Category:Uncharted Series Category:Uncharted: The Fourth Labyrinth Category:Books